The invention relates generally to an improved apparatus for providing a privacy screen for the body. The invention is particularly useful by a nursing mother in a breastfeeding setting.
Many styles of nursing blankets, cover-ups, and drapes have been proposed to provide privacy to a nursing mother while breasffeeding; however, the prior art attempts at an improved nursing garment fall short of curing all the problems presently facing nursing mothers. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,008,960, which is herein incorporated by reference, discloses a nursing garment having an upper shoulder portion attached to a lower body portion. At the end of the shoulder portion, the cloth is folded over and sewn to itself to form a pocket. Inside the pocket there is a layer of padding surrounding a weight. The weight provides a counter-balance to the lower body portion, thus maintaining the garment in position over the mother""s shoulder. The preferred embodiment discloses a metal weight, such as lead, stainless steel or the like.
While this previous invention was successful with nursing mothers nationwide, various drawbacks to this nursing garment became evident. For example, the metal weight is generally formed into a single bar and then wrapped with padding. Unless constructed carefully, after multiple uses and subsequent washings, the edges of the metal bar may wear through the padding and eventually through the cloth pocket covering. In addition, the anchoring (i.e. stitching) securing the padded weight to the garment can disengage, especially if poorly anchored, causing the bar to slip around inside the pocket. Moreover, the pocket (i.e., one continuous piece of cloth folded over on itself and stitched to define a completely enclosed pocket) may begin to separate at the stitched seam, thereby allowing the weight to escape.
Furthermore, at times, the prior art garment may not always cater to the comforts of the nursing mother. Ideally, the metal weight is sufficiently padded so that the edges of the bar are unnoticed by the mother while she is using the garment. However, if the bar begins to wear through the padding, or if the bar settles in a peculiar spot on the mother""s back, she may be unable to comfortably lean back while nursing.
In recent years, mothers have continued to nurse the child until near-toddler age. This poses a problem for the nursing mother, who desires to maintain privacy at all times while nursing her newborn infant, as well as when the baby reaches walking age and beyond. As such, the dimensions of the previous garment may fail to provide the mother and child with the long-term coverage desired. For example, the lower portion may not be long enough to provide a privacy covering for older infants.
Additionally, the shoulder portion of the previous garment may not adequately maintain the balance between the weight and the lower portion, especially for older infants. For instance, when nursing an older infant, the child may tug on the garment causing the garment to slip down. Moreover, nursing mothers are of variable size, height and weight. The dimensions of the shoulder portion may not equally accommodate the garment""s balance for a plus-sized mother as well as a petite-sized mother. In addition, the shoulder portion may droop over the shoulder of a petite-sized mother and interfere with her side body functions, e.g., full arm and shoulder movement.
In another attempt, U.S. Pat. No. 5,570,474 to Berry et al., which is herein incorporated by reference, discloses a semicircular nursing drape for lying over a shoulder and to cover a breast and baby. Distal weights are included in the lower portion of drape. Shoulder weights are placed near the mother""s neck to help secure the drape in place, while all of the weights are in an exemplary embodiment, held in place with a sewn-in pocket. Berry also discloses a drape having two elongated members which lie over the shoulder of the mother. Each member includes a distal weight pocket preferably sewn to form a weight pocket border. The weight is distributed within the pocket and may be in the form of sand or polypropylene beads. This attempt at a nursing garment, however, has various drawbacks. For example, Berry discloses multiple locations in the drape for holding weights, such as, near the mother""s neck, at the distal ends of the drape near the nursing infant, and at two distal ends over the mother""s shoulder. Multiple weight locations can cause the drape to be awkward and heavy (e.g. Berry discloses up to 12 ounces). Moreover, Berry discloses an undesirable weight pocket design whereby the weight pocket border is susceptible to opening and releasing the weight. In addition, the drape may not adequately cover an older infant. The drape covers the mother""s shoulder to protect the mother""s clothing from becoming soiled while burping the infant; however, this may be cumbersome for the mother to freely move her arm and shoulder.
In yet another attempt, U.S. Pat. No. 5,893,171 to Ries, which is herein incorporated by reference, discloses a nursing cover-up that clips to the front of the mother""s clothing. Alternatively, the mother may attach the cover-up around her neck with a supplied strap. The nursing cover-up includes a flexible coated wire sewn into the upper edge of the cover-up to permit the mother to view the child. A covered slit opening in the front of the cover-up allows the mother to access underneath the cover-up as needed. While Ries provides a less restrictive approach for the mother""s arm movements, the features of the cover-up, such as clipping and manipulating wire, may be undesirable and bulky.
The present invention addresses the problems outlined above and provides a nursing garment having a shoulder portion attached to an expanded lower portion. The shoulder portion having an elongated section and a distal end, wherein the elongated section is configured to drape over a shoulder of a nursing mother. The distal end includes a distributed weighting means. In an exemplary embodiment of the invention, the nursing garment further includes an absorbent accessory. The accessory is suitably configured to join to the shoulder portion of the garment to protect the garment and mother from being soiled, as for example, while burping the child.